I knew It Wouldn't be Easy, But Is It Supposed To Be This Hard?

by - Friday, October 08, 2021

I am waiting for my moment. The moment when I feel confident I can accomplish my goal: to finish a half marathon in under 2 hours. Maybe that moment will never come. Maybe that's the point! Maybe you can only train so much, but then you have to step up to the starting line and find it in you to succeed.


The farthest I have run at tempo pace is 5 miles. Once without stopping and once with a 30 seconds or so water break. There will be water stations every 30-45 minutes, so I have the race broken up in my mind in 3 sections: the first 4-5 miles, the second 4-5 miles, and the last 4-5 miles, with water breaks in between. My hope is to keep the water breaks short enough that they don't mess up my time. The issue lies in the fact that after 5 miles at race pace, my legs are tired. Could I do roughly that distance 2 more times? I have no idea. Also, because this is how I see the race in my head, I can guarantee it won't actually go like that on race day. I'm pretty sure I will just have to wing it.

Just 3 more weeks until the half marathon, only 2 more weeks until taper week. I'm not sure if I need new shoes, but I think it's too late to get new ones and break them in in time anyway. We will have to go with what we have. My current work schedule does not give me much time to spend on running, certainly not as much time as I need to follow the program while getting proper warm-ups, cool-downs and stretching. At the end of the day, you can only to what you can do to the best that you can do it, and that's all.


Some good news, I hit 140 miles for the month of September! In April, I had set a goal to run 50 miles. Last month I almost tripled that!

Being somewhat of a perfectionist, it's hard for me to learn to love the mess. I want to be able to check boxes, see results, and not compromise. That can be conflicting, when I also know I should be totally surrendered to God's will for my life and accept things don't always go as planned. It's safe to say I am learning a lot about myself in this season. In the same way that a meal with family can be so much more than just nourishing the body, running can be so much more than feet on the ground. There can be a deeper meaning that you find, a deeper purpose. It's not "if" you go through storms, it's "how" you go through them, right? I am learning to enjoy the process, embrace the journey. One day I can look back on this post and be proud of how far I've come!

That's all for now. Thanks for being here for my vent session. 


Talk soon!


Follow me on Instagram - @okto21k


Share
Tweet
Pin
Share
Tags :

You May Also Like

1 comments

  1. Debbie SelfOctober 8, 2021 at 3:56 PM

    Keep on keeping on! The progress you have made is amazing.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe

* indicates required